Lunesque
by butterfly.bones
Summary: -NightClass- What they do with their time is their own business...or, it should be. ShikixRima, KainxRuka, KanamexYuukixZero, standalones. -drabbles-
1. Insomnia

**Title**: Insomnia

**Pairing(s)**: Shiki/Rima, Kain/Ruka

**Date**: 7/25/08

**Words**: 507

.-.-.-.-.

Sometimes Rima can't sleep. She gets up in her pajamas and opens the door, and sneaks down into Shiki's room. He's always awake when she gets there, and she snuggles in beside him, and falls asleep. He waits until she's definitely gone, then puts an arm around her shoulders and pillows his head on her hair.

She wakes up this way.

She likes it.

For the past two months she hasn't had any trouble sleeping, but she goes anyways. He knows this, and he really doesn't mind.

A week ago Rima passed Ruka on her way to Shiki's room. The older girl stands, unmoving, in front of the next door. She says nothing.

"Shiki," she whispers that night. "Who's next door?"

"Kain and Aidou," he replies, then smoothes her hair. "Go to sleep."

Rima sees Ruka standing there every night. She is gone by the time Rima sneaks back to her own room at twilight, but she's always standing there the next morning. The brunette is suddenly vacant and failing in class, and Rima thinks, she must stand there all day. Rima never hears the door open, not once. She does, however, always hear movement inside the room, someone sitting up and staying that way.

She doesn't understand why Ruka doesn't knock.

"Why are you up?" she asks her friend one time, on her journey to Shiki's.

"I have nightmares," Ruka replies.

"Why don't you go in?"

Ruka does not say anything, and Rima does not question any further.

She hears footsteps that night, because someone is leaning on the other side of the door. A fraction of a second later, Ruka runs away. She asks Shiki, and Shiki shrugs.

"It's Kain," he replies, "Go to sleep."

She feels bad for Ruka, because the one she worships is so far away, and the one who loves her, she is too frightened to go to.

One night she does not see Ruka. Curious, she knocks on the door.

An angry Hanabusa wrenches it open, and demands, "What?"

She peers in. She does not see anyone else, and she is surprised.

"Where's Kain?"

He shrugs. "Out, I guess."

She does not continue on to Shiki's that moment. Instead, she turns around and heads back to her own room, and wonders how she did not notice the tall boy sitting against Ruka's doorframe, eyes closed.

"Kain," Rima pokes him. "What are you doing?"

"Ruka can't sleep," he says. "It's better this way."

"Why don't you go in?" she asks.

He thinks for a second, then replies, "Because she doesn't," and closes his eyes again.

Rima sojourns back to Shiki's room, and tells him all about it. The black-haired boy shrugs when she asks him why Kain does that.

"It's love," he replies. "Go to sleep."

She obeys, pressing her body against Shiki's, and wonders if they'll ever have something like that. She feels his hand on her head, waiting for her to float into unconsciousness.

Before she falls asleep she suddenly understands that hers is better, because she can go inside.

.-.-.-.-.

_Review, please!_


	2. Roses

**Title**: Roses

**Pairing(s)**: Kain/Ruka

**Words**: 856

.-.-.-.-.

"This is stupid," three-hundred-and-fifty-six-year-old Ruka said with a sniff.

"It _is_ stupid," three-hundred-and-forty-two-year-old Rima agreed blandly.

"I hate your mother," three-hundred-and-sixty-one-year-old Kanae snapped.

Three-hundred-and-sixty-six-year-old Seiren just nodded.

Because despite of their towering centuries, in human eyes, the Soen's daughter was merely sweet sixteen, the proper age to debut in society. Nevermind that Ruka had debuted in _vampire_ society at the proper age of a hundred and fifty. Nevermind that her friends had nothing to do with her mother's whims. They had all been roped into a debutante ball, thrown by her mother's rich, human friends with old families (their great grandfathers were probably younger than Ruka herself), merely because her grandmother was adamant to appear rich and proper in both societies.

So now the four sat in boredom and annoyance in front of four lighted mirrors, surrounded by rich human teens in white dresses, and their rushing, scrambling servants. The humans snobbishly ignored the four gorgeous girls, probably because they were emitting rather sinister auras, or because they knew that each of the vampires was likely more than fifty times more beautiful than plastic surgery could ever make them.

Ruka slouched in her chair, glaring at the ceiling. Her mother had forced her into a white dress, off the shoulders, lined with white lace, strings of pearls drooping from the rose in the middle around her arms and back. The skirt was a massive array of silk and chiffon, and Ruka could swear the whole phenomenon weighed more than she did.

Beside her, Rima dozed in a pretty white dress with an empire waist, and satin flowers with jeweled centers sewn onto the bosom of the dress. On Ruka's other side was Kotonami Kanae, her black hair once again twisted to the side with a single red flower, her dress adorned with more layered flounces than a wedding cake. Beside her, Seiren had set her chin on her vanity, dressed in a white silk qipao with a flounced petticoat.

"Soen? Soen Ruka?"

The golden-haired girl lifted a hand. Her willowy mother smiled, and maneuvered herself through the masses of white bodies, a bouquet in hand.

"This just arrived from your escort," she said with a smile, offering her daughter the bouquet before turning to her friends. "Rima-chan, Kanae-chan, Seiren-chan," she chanted, "Shiki-kun, Takuma-kun and Aidou-kun have arrived."

"Who's my escort?" Ruka demanded.

"He might be a little late."

Ruka sighed and took the flowers from her mother's hand. She froze.

"Mother. You _didn't. _He's busy!"

"Oh, nonsense, sweetheart," Soen Kyoko chirped happily. "He's just a little _delayed._ He'll be here."

With a hum and a bounce, she disappeared, offering cheerful greetings to the girls who were now jealously glancing at Ruka's present.

Kanae leaned over, plucking giant red roses from the bouquet and occupying herself by weaving them into Ruka's hair. Seiren lifted her head from the vanity, and asked, boredly, "Who is it?"

Ruka threw a rose at her.

"Ah," she replied with a sly smile.

Because only one man they knew in the entire world ever gave roses as big as your hand.

.-.-.-.-.

"Touya Rima, daughter of Touya Soujirou and Touya Minami."

Ruka tapped her foot impatiently as Rima's father escorted her down the stairs, before handing her off to an extremely miffed looking Shiki.

"Soen Ruka, daughter of Soen Yunoki and Soen Kyoko."

Ruka took a deep breath as her father smiled down at her.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he muttered under his breath as they shot brilliant smiles down at the audience. "I tried."

"It's okay, dad," Ruka breathed as all male eyes riveted on her.

The spot at the end of the staircase was empty.

They were nearing the floor with every step and swoop of the orchestra. Mumbles began, where was the escort? How embarrassing. How _embarrassing_.

Ruka shot a worried glance at the first blonde head she could find. Hanabusa shrugged at her, looking rather anxious himself, Kanae whispering rapidly into his ear. Takuma smiled at her reassuringly, but Ruka was developing a sick sensation in the pit of her stomach with each step, and now, she was on the last one and--

Suddenly he appeared, his rust-colored hair a little rumpled, his golden eyes fixed on her, looking thoroughly handsome in his tuxedo, another bouquet in his hand.

"Sorry I'm late, princess," he grinned. Ruka let out a breath and took his arm as he offered her the roses.

"Thanks for coming," she whispered as the audience settled.

"Anything for my princess," he positioned them next to Shiki and Rima, the latter of which looking extremely relieved.

Ruka smiled at the nickname, and tilted up to peck him on the cheek. He turned, smiled at her, and turned his face back as "Saori Sakura, daughter of Saori Ryosuke and Saori Shima" sounded.

As the night ended, she couldn't predict the visit of a certain pureblood the next day.

She couldn't possibly know that the closeness they enjoyed was going to go right down to hell.

She only knew, as he took her home, that Akatsuki Kain was a gentleman.

And he always brought roses.

.-.-.-.-.

_I have insomnia. Like, really bad insomnia. So what do I do in my lovely midnight hours? I draw!_

_And then came this picture of Ruka in a pretty dress, with a bouquet of roses in her hand. And then, of course, the debutante episode of The Gilmore Girls. Well, it clicked. __And there is nothing you can do to stop the creative process once there is a click._

_Review, please!_


	3. Four in the Morning

**Title**: Four in the Morning

**Pairing(s)**: None, side Shiki/Rima, Kain/Ruka

**Words**: 402

.-.-.-.-.

Ichijou is up at the most godforsaken hours of the morning. He pops into everyone's room, wakes them up, and is greeted with growls, roars and various pieces of furniture being thrown into his face.

"Takuma," the blonde vampire turns around to see Kain stepping out of his bathroom, a towel in his hair. "What are you doing?"

"Akatuski," he chirped, leaning over Kain's cousin, "You're up!"

And he threw a bucket of cold water onto the sleeping vampire.

Hanabusa woke with a deafening roar, dripping wet and vowing vengeance.

"_What?!_"

"I scented it," Takuma says innocently, and hops off. Hanabusa looks over to his cousin. "Why didn't you stop him?"

Kain shrugs and towels his hair as Shiki and Rima appear in the doorway.

"What time is it?" the black-haired boy asked groggily.

"Four fifteen," Kain points to the clock beside his bed.

"Oh," Shiki replies, "Okay."

"Wait," Rima blinked. "Why are we up, then?"

Ichijou bounces back in, Ruka and Seiren in tow. The former looked extremely agitated, wearing nothing but a slip. The latter was as wet as Hanabusa.

"Vice Dorm Leader," Rima rubbed her eye. "What is this about?"

"Stay here," Takuma orders as he darts out again.

Ruka sighs, and walks over to Kain's bed. He offers her a shirt, and she takes it, snuggling into the hollow mountains of his covers. Shiki and Rima follow, sitting on the edge. Seiren takes one look at the puddle on Hanabusa's bed, and makes herself comfortable on an upholstered chair.

Hanabusa returns from the bathroom, and almost knocks over Ichijou.

"Oh," he says. "Oh. _Oh._"

Kain and Ruka reach the same realization mere seconds later.

"Oh. Oh _no._"

"What?" Rima asks. She turns, and sees.

Ichijou is carrying a cake.

"It's my birthday!!" the blonde grins gleefully. "We have to have a party! We have to cancel class! There's so much to do!"

He whirlwinds out, and the rest of the class wonders how on earth he could remember something like that, before the _Day Class_ is even up.

When Ichijou returns again, he finds Kain and Ruka asleep at the head of the former's bed, Shiki and Rima curled up at the foot, Hanabusa snoring in a mountain of dry covers, and Seiren nodding off in her chintz chair.

With a fond smile, Takuma tucks them all in with whatever he could find.

He guessed they could plan later.

_.-.-.-.-._

_Timeframe: before Chapter 9._

_Review, please!_


	4. Candid Corner

**Title**: Candid Corner a.k.a. The Talk

**Pairing(s)**: None, side Shiki/Rima, hint Kain/Ruka, Kaname/Yuuki

**Words**: 459

.-.-.-.-.

"Speaking of marriage," says Hanabusa suddenly one day.

Rima looked up from her magazine. "Who's speaking of marriage?"

"You are," he grinned gleefully.

"You made me," she turned up her nose. "Nobody was talking about marriage."

"Well, while we're on the subject," Hanabusa plowed through loudly as the rest of his companions abandoned whatever leisure activity they had been occupying themselves with, knowing Aidou could not be stopped once he had begun, "I hear Sara Shirabuki-sama's engaged."

Ruka blinked and sat up straighter. "To whom?"

"Some pureblood in London," he picked a telegram up from his lap. "The Earl of…Hargreaves? Yeah."

"That's so strange," Rima twirls a piece of hair on her finger. "She's younger than _us_, isn't she?"

Kaname affirmed that statement. Rima sighed.

"I wonder how long before our engagement balls come up?"

"You mean those nasty parties where your parents present you like a piece of meat to all eligible partners and sell you off to the highest bidder?" Aidou snorted.

"Yeah," Rima replied.

"I'm delaying mine as long as I can," he announced with a flamboyant hand gesture. "It would be such a _riot_, could you imagine, the beautiful ladies fighting for the chance to spend eternity with me?"

"They're thoroughly unpleasant no matter how you look at it," Ruka said with a sniff. "You know as well as I do that every one of us will be at every one of them."

"Not Kain," Hanabusa offered happily, "He's _already_ engaged."

"_What_?" Rima turned and stared at the tall vampire. "_Who_? _When_?"

"Haruhari Aidou," he mumbled distastefully, with which Hanabusa protested with an indignant, "Hey!"

"It was arranged at birth." Kain sighed. "I'm trying to get out of it. I think I'm succeeding."

"Ah," said just about everyone, shooting meaningful glances at Ruka. She ignored them all.

"What about the rest of you?" Takuma piped in, "Any surprises here?"

"Me and Rima are using each other as decoys," Shiki said from his perch on the couch. "We figure we'd rather marry each other than have to go through the lion's den."

"Like Ruka," Rima added, nodding, "She'll be thrown to the richest, prettiest wolves in the _world._"

Ruka scowled.

"What about you, Vice Dorm President?" Kain turned his head. "Who do you think _you'll_ end up with?"

"Oh, I don't know," Takuma grinned pleasantly. "Probably as high up the bloodline purity chain as grandfather can get, which is actually pretty high. He said something about Shirabuki a few months ago. Heh." He turned to Kaname, who had been silent through their entire tirade. "Lucky you don't have a sister, Kaname!"

Kaname smiled sadly, before suddenly closing his book and leaving their flippant conversation.

"What?" Takuma looked around. "What did I say?"

If only he knew.

.-.-.-.-.

_There was originally another piece for Chapter 4, but it sucked so I took it down :D. Props to anyone who knows who the Earl of Hargreaves is ;)._


	5. Insomnia II

**Title**: Insomnia II

**Pairing(s)**: Kaname/Yuuki/Zero

**Words**: 329

.-.-.-.-.

Yuuki slips out of bed very carefully. She cannot sleep during the day, after a decade of sleeping at night. She finds it hard to adjust to nocturnal life, though her body has already accepted the darkness, her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, loathing the sun. She misses it, but not too much.

Kaname had finally drifted off into light sleep on the daybed beside the window, and she is loath to wake him. For all she knows, it is the first time her brother had gotten any real sleep in weeks. As she tiptoes around, she thinks that stealth and silence in his room was something she could never have accomplished when she was human.

Yuuki Kurosu was clumsy and awkward and incredibly conscious around Kaname.

Yuuki Kuran was easy, comfortable, different.

She walks to the wall opposite the large bed and silently slips the giant sheet off of the mirror. She stares at her reflection: the red-tinted hazel eyes, the long black hair. The pale skin. The suddenly beautifully, eerily, unnaturally gorgeous sculpted face. She's sure it's nowhere as gorgeous as Sara Shirabuki, likely not even Ruka. But it's only been a week, and her body and blood are shifting. It's the first time she's seen her face since she turned back into herself. She doesn't know if she likes it.

Her fingers trace her collarbone, and touch a tender spot on her neck. Despite her newfound vampirism, her human wounds were reluctant to heal.

She runs her fingertips absentmindedly over her lips as she thinks of Zero. He's only a small distance away, in class. He is the only vampire on campus out. He's taken her blood on many occasions; he's taken Kaname's blood, too. She wonders what this would mean.

She traces her finger over her teeth, feeling her elongated canines.

He has taken her blood, and made a bond too strong to break.

She wonders when she will return the favor.

.-.-.-.-.

_Review, please!_


	6. Learning to Fly

**Title**: Learning to Fly

**Pairing(s)**: Kaname/Yuuki

**Words**: 491

.-.-.-.-.

When Haruka and Juuri are out, Kaname tutors Yuuki. One night a decade ago, he teaches her about the social hierarchy.

"You are a pureblood," he tells her, taking her little hand and placing it on the top block of the chart that Kain had given him, "Does Yuuki understand? Yuuki is _here._"

Little Yuuki blinks at the block letters on the triangle and looks up at him with her big eyes.

"Yes, onii-sama. What is a pureblood?"

He smiles at her childish eagerness to please.

"Come over here, Yuuki."

He helps her up from her belly-down position on the floor, and takes her by the hand to her little pink bathroom. He lifts her up and holds her against his body as he turns on the tap. He decides this is the way, because she is fifty years too young to start learning bloody history.

"We are purebloods, like okaa-sama and otou-sama," he tells her as she stares at the liquid, "and that means we can do special things. Nobles can, too, but we can do a lot more."

With his eyes, he individually freezes every drop of water that falls, and Yuuki gasps and claps her little hands in amazement. After a few moments, he reaches forward and turns off the water.

Yuuki pokes one finger into the white pile.

"What is it, onii-sama?"

"It's snow," he tells her. She picks it up in wonder and molds it into a little ball. She licks it, pokes it and presses her cheek against it.

"It's cold, onii-sama!"

"Yeah," he grins and takes her back outside. "There are some things we can't do inside the house, but I will teach you to make snow to play with when you're bored. Okay?"

She nods excitedly. He thinks, she is too cute.

"Now, I'm going to show you a very special trick. Okay, Yuuki?" he places her back onto the carpeted ground. "You can't tell okaa-sama or otou-sama. Does Yuuki understand?"

"Yuuki understands," she chirps, and suddenly she is blown into the air. She screams bloody murder, before she realizes that onii-sama is laughing and floating beside her.

"What is it, onii-sama?" she asks him, making circular motions with her arms, swimming through the air towards him.

"It's wind, Yuuki," he tells her, patting her hair. "You are flying."

She laughs in absolute delight as his breezes flow through her hair and ruffles her dress. He takes her back to the ground and teaches her to do it herself, and she flies around her little basement room until Haruka and Juuri come home.

.-.-.-.-.

Kaname wakes with a start in his bed at Kurosu Academy, and sighs.

He has had this dream for years.

He sits up in his bed, eyes closed, head resting in his hands. Slowly, he lifts himself up with the air around him, and stays there in melancholy reminiscence before releasing himself from its grasp.

He wonders if she will remember when she wakes.


	7. Insomnia III

**Title**: Insomnia II

**Pairing(s)**: Kain/Ruka

**Words**: 172

.-.-.-.-.

Hanabusa wakes to a ragged scream.

He's groggy for a moment, a little shocked, a little worried and apprehensive. Maybe there was an intruder. Maybe an attacker. Maybe the fucking hunters were here again. Maybe it's_ Kiryuu. _Then he could finally get an excuse to kill him.

Hanabusa lifts his head, looks around and remembers where he is. He also notices the sounds that accompany the scream.

Panting.

Moaning.

He groans and slams his head back onto his pillow.

Okay, so it's great that Kain and Ruka are together. It's awesome that he has the room to himself now. It's fantastic that Ruka finally got over Kaname and looked around. It's stupendous that Kain finally got the only thing he's ever really wanted for years. And, he reasoned as he tried to block out the noise, Kain was, of course, _his_ cousin; for him to not have such sexual prowess would just make absolutely no sense.

But did he _have_ to give Ruka such crazy screaming orgasms?

Right next door?

_Every_ day?

.-.-.-.-.

_:D A little lewd. The original Chapter was actually different, and I actually rewrote it several times. The first version, A Girl Can Dream, was actually just because I wanted to develop the character of that black-haired vampire girl. And something totally creepy happened. I started reading Skip Beat! a year ago, and haven't touched it for a really long time. When I was trying to come up with a name for the girl I thought, "K-name, K-name..." so I came up with 'Kanae'. And I thought, well, a last name that would go well with that would be Kotou. So she was Kotou Kanae. But then, after a few minutes, I decided Kotonami Kanae sounds even better, so she was Kotonami Kanae. The next day I saw updated chapters on Skip Beat!, and, whaddaya know, the main character's best friend's name is Kotonami Kanae. I have freaky memory._

_The second version of this chapter, Claire de Lune, was just basically a Kain/Ruka drabble about moon-related piano pieces. I thought this one was better, so I posted it instead of the other two. Do tell me if you want them up. _

_Review, please!_


	8. Number One

**Title**: Number One

**Pairings**: none

**Words**: 94

.-.-.-.-.

Apparently the human consensus is that, because the son of a bitch drank his sister's blood, his blood and by extension Shizuka's blood and has thorny vines exploding from his body, he's now the most fucking powerful thing on the planet.

Well, Kaname didn't think so.

So as he draws out his schedule for the next day, he squeezes in a '_Pound Zero Kiryuu's ass into the floor_' between '_Eat Breakfast_' and '_Kill Rido_'.

And then, he muses, tapping his pen on his chin, maybe he'll have a nice quiet dinner with his sister.

.-.-.-.-.

_Assuming everybody here knows onemanga and wikipedia...I read the wikidef of Zero and I got pissed. ._

_By far the shortest yet. But review, please!_


	9. Bitter

**Title**: Bitter

**Pairing(s)**: Haruka/Juuri/Rido, Shizuka/Rido/Shiki's mom

**Words**: 759

.-.-.-.-.

Sometimes he wonders how it all came down to this.

He doesn't remember when he transformed from a beloved pureblood to a man loathed and detested by everyone he used to know. He doesn't remember when Haruka and Juuri turned on him. He doesn't remember the first time Kaori Shiki's loving glances turned into poisonous glares. He doesn't really know how it happened…only that it did.

.-.-.-.-.

What Haruka did not know was that Juuri was born for _him_, for Rido. But somewhere along the way, their parents found Shizuka Hiou, and that was that: his precious Juuri was ripped from his side and passed on to Haruka, reluctant, oblivious. Juuri was too small to remember. He doesn't know when they stopped resenting their engagement and started caring for each other, but he curses the day. That day, they were no longer his cute little siblings…they were merely in the way.

So, centuries later, he eats their son's soul. Juuri is devastated when Kaname returned devoid of the bubbly air he had as a baby, but with eyes suddenly full of wisdom that no one should have at the age of three. Now Kaname looks at him with eyes full of disgust, reproach, and that poisonous hatred passed down from his parents. He doesn't care. No matter how infinitely powerful his bloodline had made him, Kaname cannot kill him.

He comes back later for their second child, he kills Haruka, and he smells Juuri's blood before his nose falls away. He doesn't like that part, but he knows when he comes back he's one step closer to what he wanted. Kaname is horrified, but Rido doesn't have the space in his heart for a defaulting brother and sister. They were merely yet another obliterated obstacle, he didn't think twice, and he never regretted it.

He doesn't think about what he'd done until he looks into Kaname's eyes again, through the body of his own son. He doesn't think he's killed anyone he loved until he saw Yuuki again, through his own revived body. They are beautiful, powerful Kurans, vengeful, full of anger and sorrow for everything they lived through because of _him_. But then he only thinks, well, he can just replace them, because Kaname and Yuuki are now perfect miniatures of how Haruka and Juuri used to be, and he can always just eat them, revive them and try again.

.-.-.-.-.

What Shizuka did not know she would not have cared anyways; neither ever bothered pretending to have any sort of feelings for the other, much less care about what they did with their time. He had her lover killed, anyways, because what was his was his. Rido Kuran does not share, and Shizuka Hiou was insane; she amused him every once in a while, and he was a little upset to find she was gone when he woke.

Shizuka was beautiful, yes; an icy beauty that was frigid and fragile like ice. He didn't really ever want much to do with her, but she was good to look at. She was, however, bitter and irreproachable, and he resented it; the fact that she was his equal, that he could not touch her unless she let him. So when pretty, perfect Kaori Shiki was presented to him on a golden platter, beautiful with her black hair and golden eyes, he thought, well, this is interesting.

She was there partly because of her uncle, partly because he was a pureblood. She had a little fantasy in her head, and he knew that, manipulated it, and had his way without any glitches. He had something to do in his spare time, and she could pretend that everything was going well and that he loved her and whatever else she imagined up in her head. He guessed that broke when she found out she was pregnant and he didn't care. He _knew_ she broke when she had her child and the baby undeniably had his face, and she knew she would never be rid of him for the rest of her life even if she _tried_. He almost laughed at the thought, at her bitter agony, at Senri's ethereal beauty, but decided better of it. He thought it was probably a good thing he vanished off the face of the earth just a few months after Senri was born, otherwise she might have killed the child. Which would be bad.

He thanks her, though, for hating him so viciously when she wasn't up in the clouds. Because of that, Senri is strong. And when he looks at himself in the mirror, he laughs because his adorable son is as beautiful as he is, and who better to play around with than another of his own blood?

.-.-.-.-.

_Kaori's just a name off the top of my head. I have no idea what her real name is. Sorry. I'm also extremely sure than Senri is Shiki's first name, because his mother, father AND uncle call him that. So, yeah. :D_

_Review, please!_


	10. Bitch

**Title**: Bitch

**Pairing(s)**: none

**Words**: 454

.-.-.-.-.

Hanabusa is the Supreme Lord of Cuss Words and Death Threats, because he's a genius and he knows every word in the dictionary, and vulgarities were not exempt from such a tome. He's not the only genius he knows, but he's the only one who's ever read a whole dictionary, and he's the only one who's in print, so there.

He remembers the first time he swore. His parents had been horrified, Akatsuki had been in roaring hysterics, and the victim had fainted. He treasures that memory, for different reasons. It makes him glad he read the dictionary.

He met Ruka Soen when he was very, very young. He, Kain and Ruka were three of the highest born children in vampire society outside of the purebloods. He didn't like her the second he heard of her: he was the long awaited son of the Aidou family, treasured, pampered and held on a golden pedestal. But Ruka was his perfect match: she had two more brothers than he had sisters, and she was the _first_ _daughter_--_nobody_ else had sons before daughters. She was more long-awaited than he had been, more treasured, more pampered, her pedestal was higher, and her much older brothers spoiled her without a thought. He hated that. He challenges it. He makes it even.

But for the three associate with each other was expected. They knew that. They also noticed there had been no mention of getting along. So Ruka stole Kain from Aidou two seconds into their first meeting. His cousin didn't really seem to mind, which irritated him. Sure, the girl was _glittering_ with gorgeous, but did Kain have to give in and be so dazzled the _moment_ he saw her? Hanabusa was _glittering_ with gorgeous, too…but then again, he was pretty sure his cousin didn't swing that way.

Ruka had smirked triumphantly. He had thought, what a complete and utter _brat._

"Bitch," he spat at her with a proud grin.

He remembers the first time; because it was the minute he met Ruka Soen. Her shocked face and fainting was his first impression of her, and he's fond of that memory. He's fond of their rivalry. He's fond of his match, he's much fonder of teasing and baiting her. But he's fondest of that little golden-haired girl who had proved to him for the first time he wasn't the only one of his kind. He resents her sometimes for being closer to Kaname because of her blood bond, but he knows she won't hold it over his head, because she likes their deadlock better anyways.

He treasures the delicate balance of their friendship, and he knows she does too. That's why they try to kill each other every other night. But now, when he spits, "Bitch," he has to remember to duck, because older Ruka knows how to blow things up. And he likes it.

.-.-.-.-.

_I really like the concept of Aidou and Ruka as friends, even if they seem to hate each other. I dunno why. :D_

_Review, please!_


	11. Roses II

**Title**: Roses II

**Pairing(s)**: Kain/Ruka

**Words**: 371

.-.-.-.-.

"I wonder," Ruka heard over her shoulder, "If Shiki will be okay returning home…"

"He's Shiki," the brunette picked up a razor, lifting it to the stem of a rose, "He will be fine, Rima."

"Yeah," the younger girl sighed. "Hey, Ruka, are you sure you're allowed to do that?"

"How hypocritical," the older girl told her, "You've just done it yourself. I've been cutting from the gardens since I was ten, Rima. Aidou's mother adores me and Aidou really doesn't care about flowers." Pause. "Ow."

The brunette lifted her punctured hand, dotted with little red holes from the vicious thorns of the rose, and examined it emotionlessly. Rima looked up as Kain suddenly appeared out of nowhere, squatting beside Ruka at the rose patch and picking up the flower she had dropped.

"Ruka," he said, averting his eyes from the blood tricking out of her hand, "Don't do that. I will do it."

"No," Ruka said softly, stemming the flow with her mouth, "You've been doing it since we were kids."

"There is obviously a good reason."

Rima watched contemplatively as the tall redhead seared closed the stem of Ruka's rose, before doing the same to every other rose still on the bush and plucking them rapidly out of the air before they fell.

"Somebody might have smelled that," he told Ruka, now stripping off leaves and thorns. "Go back to the house. I will take care of this."

With a slight pause, Ruka obliged (to Rima's surprise), disappearing from the greenhouse without another word. Rima waited until Kain stood up and stared at her expectantly, before she did the same.

.-.-.-.-.

Kain found Ruka later, bearing a massive bouquet of freshly arranged roses in a silver vase. She took them without a word, and he did not look like he was expecting any thanks.

"I'll go put them in Kaname-sama's room," Ruka said quietly. "It is rather dismal in there."

Kain shrugged, and left.

"That was very cruel of you, Ruka," Rima told her from her perch on the bed, "How terribly cold."

Ruka did not move. "It's nothing," she replied monotonously, then, as if she were trying to convince herself, "It not cruel, or cold. It's nothing. It's always been this way."

As she left, Rima wondered if it would always _be_ that way.

.-.-.-.-.

_I got this idea from reading chapters 28 and 29. Kain asks for Ruka, Aidou tells him, and he vanishes. Rima and Ruka are in the greenhouse. Kain later appears with a bouquet in a vase, the same one that Ruka is arranging in Kaname's room two pages later._

_Review, please!_


	12. Headcase

**Title**: Headcase

**Pairing(s)**: onesided Rido/Juuri, slight Shiki/Rima

**Words**: 416

.-.-.-.-.

There was a hole in the ceiling, right above Shiki's head. He paused. He doesn't know why. And then he looks up, and there are the coal, coal, coal black eyes, the eyes of Rido, his father.

He almost winces.

Shiki does not understand the hatred harbored for his own father. He had never been very invested in putting energy into loathing Rido--hell, he rarely bothered with putting energy into _anything_--but he was sure the closest he every went to _emotion_ concerning his father was probably ambiguity. Maybe a little frustration, at one point, when his mother went completely insane. But, he reasoned, there was not much either of them could really do about it at that point and he was too tired to stay irked.

But now, looking up at that man, Shiki's heart wrenched. He did feel now. He understood. It's hard sharing a consciousness with someone without knowing their thoughts, and Shiki knew Rido much more thoroughly than he would have if his father had been there when he grew up. Rido's mind was filled with one thing, and Shiki saw no real danger. He had been content to let his father play until Rima--there were some things Rido couldn't do. The pureblood had been annoyed, but nothing more. Shiki guesses that Rido can't much share a mind with his son without understanding a few things, too.

Rido left him in peace. But there was some sort of mental link between them, something that connected them. Shiki knew exactly where Rido was. On the roof. Exactly what he was thinking.

_JuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuriJuuri--_

_Bye, dad._

The pureblood stared into his son's eyes for a split second more, before Shiki tore himself away and vanished under the tile, where Rido couldn't see him. Still, softly, _Juuri, Juuri, Juuri…_pleading, teasing, haunting.

Ten minutes later Shiki stumbles halfway to the human dorms, and crashes into the ground. Rima gets a soft landing, and is perplexed when Shiki doesn't, instead crouching over on the ground, the scraped skin on his forearms already closing, hacking and sobbing and clenching at his head and chest. She cannot do anything but put an arm around his shaking frame. Only he knows what's wrong, because suddenly he is so completely and utterly alone.

His mind was suddenly just his own. The voice, the chant he had gotten so used to…silenced.

Shiki screams, heart wrenching. Rima holds him tighter, and he reaches up and buries his face in her neck.

"_Father_…"

.-.-.-.-.

_Just something I came up with. I mean, Rido was sort of talking to Shiki in his head when Shiki got free, so...yeah. I dunno. I think Rido's a good person, just...went the wrong way to get what he wanted. Which he didn't anyways._


	13. Romeolus e Giulietta

**Title**: Romeolus e Giulietta

**Pairing(s)**: crack.

**Words**: 846

.-.-.-.-.

"You've got to be kidding me," Aidou snapped, rising out of his chair. Yagari turned immediately with a matching expression.

"You wanna die?" he snarled back at the blond noble. Aidou sunk back into his chair with a glower. "Yeah, I didn't think so," Yagari turned back around and resumed viciously scratching more messy names onto the chalkboard.

"The Chairman---has decided---it's about time---to immerse you freaks---into---the fine---arts," the hunter all but smashed the chalk in his hand onto the board. "There. Romeolus e Giulietta."

"_Romeo and Juliet_?" Aidou was back on his feet, to the slightly annoyed glances of his classmates, "You---you want _us_---to read Shakespeare?!"

"The historically correct version," Yagari replied dryly, throwing the remnants of the once-perfect stick of chalk onto the ground. "And, yeah. Won't the Day Class be thrilled?"

Every head in the room suddenly looked up, horrified expressions on their faces.

"We're performing it?" Ruka demanded, looking thoroughly ruffled. Yagari shot her a grin laced with evil.

"Yup."

And before Aidou could protest any further, Yagari ripped his gun out of its holster and began tapping the board with it.

"Romeolus e Giulietta," he began dryly, "Is the story---"

"We know what it is," Rima commented from her perch on Shiki's desk.

"Lovely," Yagari drawled in a voice insisting he thought it was anything but. "Let me summarize, then. But first."

With another sharp tap that cracked the board, the vampire hunter indicated the messily scrawled list of names he had been carving into the board.

"Cast list, you troglodytes," the black-haired man almost grinned. "And of course, Escalus, Prince of Verona, will be played by his royal ass majesty there."

His students shot him vicious glares as Yagari waved his gun in Kaname's general direction. The pureblood smiled demurely, "Of course, sensei."

"Alright, people. Here's how it goes. Montagues and Capulets fight and Princey comes and tells 'em to stop or he'll off with their heads. Later, Count Paris---played by Kain, yeah, you---you wanna marry Juliet. That's you, there, Soen."

"Go figure," Aidu muttered. Ruka shot him a glare.

"Meanwhile our Romeo is heartbroken over some hussy and Benvolio and Mercutio---er, you, the one in the back, and you, Shiki---get Romeo---that's you, Aidou's kid---"

Now it was Ruka's turn to grin.

"---t'go to some ball. Then Soen and Aidou, you two fall in love, and they get all mushy on the balcony."

Yagari looked up from his book.

"Get that look off your face, Aidou, at least she's got an ass---Soen, _sit down_."

With some effort Ruka was restrained from jumping at Yagari and Aidou was restrained from jumping out the window. When the two had been allocated to opposite sides of the room, the hunter continued:

"Friar Lawrence---you, Touya, yes, you're playing a man---"

Rima blinked and didn't really seem to care.

"---Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Juliet, blah blah blah, and Tybalt---huh, why not we'll pull Zero in for this one, that'll be good---Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel---"

Aidou looked up with an almost excited expression on his face.

"---Romeo says no cause Tybalt's family now, he's Juliet's cousin or whatnot---"

"_What_?" demanded Aidou indignantly.

"---so Mercutio fights him instead and he dies---"

"Excellent," said Shiki.

"---and then Romeo goes and kills Tybalt---"

"Yes!" Aidou almost pumped his fist.

"---and Prince Escalus exiles him."

"Damn."

"So now Juliet's dad decides to marry her to Paris and if she says beat it she's disowned---"

"If only, huh, Kain?" Aidou whispered to his cousin. He promptly found his face shoved into his desk.

"---so Juliet goes to see Friar Lawrence, and Touya, you sell her some drug to make it seem like she's dead and you send a message to Romeo to tell him about the plan, but he misses it cause somebody screwed up. So Juliet's all fake dead and Romeo shows up and kills Paris."

"Like he could," Kain looked down at his cousin's face, still shoved into wood.

"Then Romeo poisons himself---"

"For _her_?!" Aidou had struggled free and now looked horrified at the prospect of poisoning himself out of love for Ruka.

"---then Juliet wakes up and kills herself---"

Said brunette rolled her eyes and turned away, wrinkling her nose.

"---and the Capulets and the Montagues and his royal majesty show up and all three of 'em are dead."

"How pleasant."

"Then, Friar, you tell them everything. Then everyone lives happily ever fucking after. Oh, and there are a bunch other people just randomly thrown in there and I'll assign the rest of you. If you don't get a part you're doing backstage work and by damn you will do it whether or not the hell you want to or the safety on my trigger might just slip by some freak twist of fate."

Yagari threw the thick script down onto his desk and canvassed the class with his eyes. Their expressions ranged from disgusted to suicidal. The hunter grinned, trying to imagine his old student's face when Zero was told what he was going to be spending his weekends doing for the next three months.

_This was going to be good._

.-.-.-.-.

_I'm definately going to expand this. No, serious. Check my profile. It's there._

_And in the interest of shameless self-advertising, CHECK OUT MY RUKAIN FIC ONE WEEK. I worked hard on it. I think._

_Review, please!_


	14. History

**Title**: History

**Pairing(s)**: Haruka/Juuri and Kaname/Yuuki; onesided Kaien/Juuri and Zero/Yuuki

**Words**: 369

.-.-.-.-.

Kaien Cross sighed.

The two parted, backs towards each other. Neither turned back for one last look. It was unlikely, but not impossible, that the two would ever meet again. He hoped not. It was one thing with _her_…but he didn't think he could possible bear to see his children kill each other. He sincerely prayed he wouldn't live to see the day.

Yuuki would probably win. Even without Kaname by her side, ready to tear Zero to pieces, she would take him down, easily. Maybe…even if she were pregnant…

"_Go be next to the man who can spend eternity with you."_

Why does this all sound so familiar?

"_But the next time we meet, I will kill you…"_

Ah, right. He remembers.

"_Well then, in that case…"_

How long had it been now? How long since he first saw Juuri Kuran dancing in the woods, having finally escaped the vigilant eyes of her powerful brothers?

"… _I'll keep running away from you…"_

How long had it been since he gave her himself, and she looked at him with those soft eyes and told him Haruka's blood was the only one she could ever want? How long since they spoke the exact words her daughter now spoke to his son?

"…_so you will have a reason to live…"_

How long since he tore out his heart and vowed to kill her, only to be defeated, lying on the ground, while she spoke to him dreams of her children? How long since he decided he would build those dreams for her? How long since she was gone?

"…_by still having enemies to go after."_

Kaien shook his head and left the edge of the clearing. There were more important things to deal with now---the Shirabuki girl was coming, he could feel it, and Kain and Soen and Aidou on the roofs would not be able to deal with her. Not alone.

He looked up into the sky, at a bright moon that spoke nothing of the atrocities occurring below the stars.

How did it come all to this? Well, history always repeats itself, after all. He, a teacher, should know better than anyone.

He just didn't want _this_ particular fate to follow another.

.-.-.-.-.

_I just...sort of had a sudden thought about Kaien and Juuri's relationship. And something in that last chapter of VK kind of clicked with Kaien's memory of Juuri and all, him coming to kill her for apparently no reason and their familiarity with each other. I just thought it worked._

_Review, please!_


	15. In The Blood

**Title**: In The Blood

**Pairing(s)**: Kaname/Yuuki, maybe Ruka/Kain

**Words**: 328

.-.-.-.-.

Sometimes Kaname felt like he was just like his uncle, and that disgusted him. This was usually when he looked at Ruka and Yuuki, and instead saw Kaori and Juuri.

He doesn't mean to treat Ruka badly, and he really thinks he doesn't. But he _has_ to admit he did use her, and then he threw her away. He used her because he couldn't have Yuuki, not yet. And he is reminded of that every time he sees Kain and remembers that _he_ is the one that has to stop Ruka's crying whenever Kaname stomps on her heart, and he is reminded of this whenever Yuuki smiles at him and Ruka turns away.

He knew how Rido played with Kaori Shiki. Senri came of it. And what was his uncle's reason, other than the man's unreasonable infatuation with Kaname's mother? He was only waiting for Haruka to die. He just never counted on Juuri dying, too. And when Rido came back he found a son waiting for him, not the one he wanted, but good enough, and, not even caring about how he broke Kaori and drove her insane, Rido took his son and tried to use him to kill Kaname, but what terrified Kaname was that he didn't care that he would hurt Shiki, just that Rido would die.

Kaname knows he's not like his uncle. His relationships with people, no matter how similar, are really different---he realizes this. Ruka understands his actions---she _understood_ his intentions and willingly embraced him, and she is in no way pretending he loves her and making her own little world out of it. His beautiful little sister is not the forbidden object of his desire, and he is reminded of this every time she beams up at him and reaches up and kisses him. And Shiki----Shiki is not his tool. Shiki is his friend.

Kaname is not like Rido, and he will make sure it _stays_ that way.

.-.-.-.-.

_I really like speculating. Think about it! There's tons of relationship similarities...I think. ;)_


End file.
